Industry Resources

Love all things transit and transportation? Does the word “infrastructure” make you sit up and take notice? Us, too. Check out the following links to learn more about some of the latest developments, movers and shakers, future trends and more, from the researchers at Acumen. Be sure to follow Acumen on Facebook for more frequent updates. For our archive of articles, click here.

• BART Perks. Test program to explore new ways to reduce crowding. BART Perks official website, August 30th, 2016.
• Google.org developing app to help visually impaired riders navigate public transit. The Transit Wire, December 10th, 2015.
• USDOT Launches Social Media Campaign: “Show Your #Infrawear”. USDOT Fastlane Blog. August 7th, 2015.
• Bay Area Public Transit Agencies Need More Consistency to Succeed as a Whole. NYTimes.com, August 4th, 2015.
• BART’s Upcoming Transbay Tube Closure Plans to Affect Thousands. Insidebayarea.com, July 27th, 2015.
• US Transportation Secretary Foxx Speaks on Racial Variables in Transporation. Telegram.com, July 21st, 2015.
• New Video Game Explores Infrastructure Repair. CityLab, July 15th, 2015.
• Explore the Potential Benefits of High-Speed Rail in America. Business Insider, June 29th, 2015.
• Caltrain’s Advanced Signal System Project Helps Modernize and Upgrade Safety. SmartRailWorld.com, June 24th, 2015.
• SpaceX to Hold Hyperloop Pod Competition in 2016. ArsTechnica.com, June 15th, 2015.
• House Poised to Vote for Cuts to TIGER, Amtrak, Transit. SF Streetsblog, June 5th, 2015.
• San Francisco Agencies Have Re-Introduced the Transportation Sustainability Program. SF Streetsblog, June 4th, 2015.
• White House Threatens to Veto Transportation Funding Bill. Progressive Railroading, June 2nd, 2015.
• BART May Ask Taxpayers for 9.6 Billion to Keep Trains Running. CBS San Francisco, May 1st, 2015.
• A New House Bill Proposes Major Cuts to Programs which Promote Walking and Biking. StreetsBlog USA, April 29th, 2015.
• Transit Funding Cuts Could Prove Disastrous for Local Communities. Metro Magazine, April 22nd, 2015.
• Does the Public Benefit From Private Infrastructure Investment? NY Times, April 9th, 2015.
• BART’S Track Troubles Can’t Be Ignored. SF Gate, April 7th, 2015.
• The Bay Area Bike Share Program Proposes Huge Expansion. SF Gate, April 6th, 2015.
• San Francisco’s Fancy Private Buses Could be a Win for Everyone. San Francisco Business Times, April 3rd, 2015.
• “Less Parking, More City”: A Short Animated Video From ITDP Mexico. ReinventingParking.org, April 2nd, 2015.
• An Exploration of Oakland’s Bicycling Future and the Potential Benefits. East Bay Express, March 18th, 2015.
• Driverless Buses Far From Reality Though Autonomous Technology can Still Improve Transit Systems. CityLab, March 17th, 2015.
• Recent BART Survey Shows Bikers and Passengers are Getting Along. SFBay, March 13th, 2015.
• NYC Study Shows Real-Time Transit Information Can Increase Ridership. CityLab, March 9th, 2015.
• BART Tests Canopy Over Oakland Station Entry. SF Gate, March 6th, 2015.
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Discusses Serious Infrastructure Problems in a Not-So-Serious Manner. HBO, March 3rd, 2015.
• Targeting Inequality, This Time on Public Transit. The New York Times, March 1st, 2015.
• Hyperloop Construction Starts Next Year With the First Full-Scale Track. Wired.com, February 26th, 2015.
• The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Opens ‘Living Lab’ for Transit Innovation. GovTech.com, February 24th, 2015.
• AC Transit to Test Double-decker Buses Over the Next Three Weeks. SF Gate. February 19th, 2015.
• BART to Develop Technology to Protect Trackside Workers from Trains. Insidebayarea.com, February 18th, 2015.
• Don’t cut Transit off from Highway Trust Fund, APTA’s Melaniphy says. Progressive Railroading, February 18th, 2015.
• Transportation Experts Weigh In On What Can Be Done To Improve The MBTA. WBUR, February 17th, 2015.
• Twitter Users Prefer the IRS to Public Transit Based on a Recent Study. USC News, February 16th, 2015.
• San Francisco’s Mass Transit Map Shows Riders How Much of the City is Accessible Within a Time Frame. Citylab.com, February 12th, 2015
• Los Angeles MTA Plans to Connect with Union Station Visitors Using Wireless Beacon Technology. LA Times, February 11th, 2015
• London Approves “Cycling Superhighways” to Improve Bicycle Safety and Decrease Traffic Delays. NPR.org, February 9th, 2015
• Bay Area Resident Joseph Blum’s Beautiful Photographs Document the Danger and Hard Work Involved in Building the New Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge. Gizmodo.com, February 6th, 2015
• Obama to Designate $20 Million to Extend SMART Service to Larkspur. Patch.com, February 3rd, 2015
• The Effects of Poor Transit Policy Felt by Thousands in Detroit. Detroit Free Press, February 3rd, 2015
• ITS-Davis Director Dan Sperling Appointed 2015 Chair of Prestigious Transportation Research Board. ITS-Davis, January 19, 2015
• Say good-bye to the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge old eastern span … this great blog/video walks you through the process with amazing detail. Check it out. KQED, June 19, 2014
• Are Solar Roadways the future or just a hangover from the movie “Tron”? Here’s a video that sheds some light on the subject. Elite Daily, May 21, 2014
• Nearly 12,000 Chinese immigrant laborers who worked for the Central Pacific Railroad between 1865 and 1869 will be inducted into the Labor Hall of Honor. United Transportation Union, May 8, 2014
• UTEC, a Peruvian engineering college, has created a smog-sucking billboard that promotes the campus while reducing the pollutants around its construction sites. The school claims just one of the billboards is the purifying equivalent of 1,200 trees. takepart.com, May 5, 2014
• Congress debates the merits of the White House’s Grow America Act, which if passed would give states the flexibility to toll existing Interstate highways via a $302-billion, four-year transportation re-authorization proposal. IBTTA, May 2, 2014
• Silicon Valley-based Ames Research Center (part of NASA) is developing skyTran, a “space age” answer to rapid transit that proposes to use two-person modules that drive along a guide rail suspended from existing power lines. It’s set to debut in Israeli in two years, if everything stays on track. Israel 21c
• BART flips the switch on its first 82-inch LCD digital advertising and news display (part of a pilot program) at the Montgomery Station platform, replacing two old-school ad posters … seeks rider feedback. BART.GOV, April 1, 2014
• Boston’s new Prescribe-a-Bike program offers low-income residents struggling with obesity access to a bike in 130 locations throughout the city … and they throw in a free helmet, too! StreetblogUSA.com, March 28, 2014
• Check out this really cool London bus shelter with augmented reality panels … wonder when/if we’ll ever see this on an AC Transit shelter? Metro Magazine Transit, March 25, 2014
• Wary about touching hand straps on public transit? Designers team up to create the self-contained Cyclean System, which scrubs the strap with disinfectant as it coils around a spool. fastcodesign.com, March 20, 2014
• New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) increases the percentage of contracts awarded to minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBEs). profilemagazine.com, March 1, 2014

• Chicago real estate investors are big supporters of major urban Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) programs, and so are we here at Acumen. In fact, we provide key engineering program management support services for Northern California BRT programs at Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit) and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA). chi.streetblogs.org, February 20, 2014

• Port and City of Oakland officials dedicate Bessie Coleman Drive near the Oakland International Airport to the first female African-American aviator Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman. Port of Oakland.com, February 14, 2014

• Chuck Close is an American painter and photographer who became famous as a photorealist through his massive-scale portraits. Close will be one of the artists to fill New York’s Second Avenue Subway with art during the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s effort to revamp the 86th Street Station. gothamist, January 22, 2014
• Testing is slated for new rail vehicles on the Oakland California Airport Connector, which are on track to debut this fall. Acumen staff will support this important project. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), January 21, 2014
• San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) ordered rail cars for its “Fleet of the Future,” with Bombardier Transportation. BART’s goal is to order 1,000 new train cars, increasing the number of seats in the fleet by about 40%. Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), January 21, 2014
• The American Public Transportation Association reports ridership taken on rail and bus grew nationally by 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2013. Mass Transit, January 20, 2014

• Acumen gives a shout out to teaming partner, HNTB Corporation, in recognition of its 100 years of providing innovative infrastructure solutions across the country. HNTB, January 14, 2014
• Check out the future of transportation: this incredible Straddling Bus will soon appear on streets. YouTube, January 6, 2014